ORIGINAL: npfman
hi,
just wondered if anyone could give me any tips on what to take and when to take the appropriate supplements,
been working out for a few months now and have noticed an increase in strength rather than in size, i try to keep a good diet and have a teaspoonful of creatine just before i start weight training and then 1 scoop of met-rx supreme whey with water straight after the workout. im currently 6 ft 1 and 172lbs and would like to see in increase in size,
someone reccomended me CNP pro mass as a weight gainer but wasnt sure when to use it and whether or not to keep using the creatine and met-rx protein, also would it be easy enough to make my own weight gain mix out of various supplements and stuff like oats etc?
i dont really have a clue what to use and when to use it and would appreciate all the help i can,
cheers!
MMA4life made a very good point - nutritional supplements should not form the basis for any diet – but they certainly can be helpful as a means of optimising it.
The fundamental point when trying to gain weight is that ff you're not eating enough you simply will not gain.
The first thing you need to do is roughly calculate how many calories you need to maintain you current body weight. Rule of thumb, most men need around 2500 a day.
A more complex (but more accurate) individual calculation is to calculate your base metabolic rate using the following formula:
Body weight in kilos x 24 x (1.5 if your moderately active / 1.75 if you're very active)
The above will then give you a pretty good (but not fool proof) idea of your base daily calorific requirements to maintain your present weight.
So for example if you weight 172 lbs (78kg) the following calculation gives you roughly your daily calorific requirement:
78 x 24 x 1.5 (moderately active) = 2808 calories per day to maintain current weight.
Once you know your base requirements (2808 calories per day), you simply need to make allowances for additional calories for weight gain. Another rule of thumb is that 3500 extra calories equates to an additional pound in weight. Therefore to gain weight in a healthy manner (no more than 1-2 pounds per week) you need to add 500 to a maximum of around 1000 extra calories to your diet a day.
Therefore your goal would be to consume in total about 3800 calories. This is only an estimate - Individual metabolic rates and lean body weight/fat ratio's can mean that this figure is either too high or too low, but it's a good starting point.
You also need to ensure that you eat small meals frequently 5 - 6 per day. By eating every 2 1/2 to 3 hours, you ensure that you maintain a positive nitrogen balance, which provides your body with the perfect environment for sustained lean weight gain.
So divide your total daily calorific requirement by 5-6 and you get the magic number you should be aiming for per meal. Each meal should consist of around 2 thirds complex carbs and one third protein. Fats (mainly from your protein source) should cover any fat requirements - so there's no real need to percentage it in.
Of course if you can't manage 5 - 6 meals a day, there's no harm in using a weight gainer supplement in between meals which provides a balanced combination of high quality proteins and carbohydrates - there are various good quality products on the market which can easily provide these extra calories.
Additional tips:
Limit aerobic exercise - running in particular tends to waste muscle - a genetic trait to make our bodies as metabolically efficient as possible.
Don't over train: This is a common mistake that will result in zero or limited gains. Train each body part once, maximum twice per week for a maximum of 6-9 sets per muscle group. If you're a hard gainer, I would suggest training each muscle group once per week. Also ensure you're getting enough sleep - 8 hrs minimum - this is when your body recuperates and grows.
ZMA and L-glutamine are also helpful for enhancing recovery between workouts and therefore, increasing muscle mass.
Hope this helps.
